CHIPPENHAM Town manager Mark Collier was disappointed in his side’s second-half display as they fell to a 4-2 defeat at Eastbourne Borough.

Having twice taken the lead in the first half through David Pratt and Andy Sandell, on both occasions they were pegged back by Jamie Taylor strikes.

However, with the scores level at the break, Chippenham failed to show up in the second half and goals from Charlie Adams and Sergio Torres condemned them to a third defeat of the season.

“We started the game quite well, as you can imagine,” said Collier.

“We got ourselves the goal and then Will Richards has made a horrendous individual mistake and we have been punished for it.

“We have then got ourselves back into a 2-1 lead and then, before half time, their lad Taylor has come off the back four and got in between to finish well to make it 2-2.

“In the second half, we have started poorly and go 3-2 down very early and then we haven’t looked as though we are going to break them down and they have got a fourth goal.

“We have talked about individual errors and I can do so until I am blue in the face, we still have to eradicate those errors and players can only do that themselves.

“The second half was disappointing and not the Chippenham Town we have come to expect.

“We’ve reminded the players of that. When we are not having a good time and not having a good spell, we need to sit in and just stay in the game and make sure we are competitive.

“We had too many underperformers and we’ve come up short.”

Chippenham, who let Rhys Baggridge leave last Friday, with the player wanting to play in the FA Cup with Southern League side Salisbury on Saturday, don’t have much time to lick their wounds as they return to Hardenhuish Park on Tuesday night to face in-form Gloucester City.

However, Collier says that the squad will stick together as they look to address their defensive frailties.

“We’re going to have these days and we must stick together and move on,” he added.

“We’ve got a game on Tuesday and we must make sure we are ready mentally and physically for that one.

“The last four or five goals we have conceded, nobody has really had to work hard to score against us, that’s the worry.

“We know where we are coming up short and we need to make sure we improve collectively.

“I think Gloucester have won four on the spin, so they’ll come to us in good spirits.

“Football comes around very quickly and Tuesday can’t come quick enough for us.”

Ipsoregulated

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